This idyllic scene of smartly-dressed professionals and joyful families is on a hoarding in front of some waste ground in Lisburn town centre. Previously (prior to 2019), the hoarding showed shop windows and street-lights.
Smithfield Street, Lisburn
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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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This is a pair of small paintings at the Raven Social club in east Belfast. Above, a silhouette of David Ervine – see An Architect Of Peace. A lounge in the club is named after Ervine. And below, a small version of a mural in Londonderry, depicting the interaction between John Meeke of the 36th (Ulster) Division and Willie Redmond of the 16th (Irish) Division on Messines Ridge in 1917 – see Comrades In Arms. 1st Raven Somme Association holds an annual Battle Of Messines Parade (Raven Fb).
Previously from the Raven club: Quoth The Raven, “Evermore”.
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This entry updates 2024’s Pride Of Ardoyne, which described the boards added to the long-standing Billy Hanna plaque. Around the corner three images of water-features and candles have been added, behind a small wooden picket fence.
Ardoyne Road, north Belfast
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“The gospel rediscovered. Christ alone. Grace alone, Faith alone. Scripture alone. To God alone by the glory.”
Martin Luther sent his “Ninety-Five Theses” on the practice of selling indulgences (Disputatio Pro Declaratione Virtutis Indulgentiarum), along with a letter, to the archbishop of Mainz on October 31st, 1517. They were subsequently printed by the press at Wittenberg University and distributed in various forms and by various means, including by being attached to the doors of local churches. (WP) Thus began, in retrospect, the reformation. Luther was declared a heretic in May, 1521. (See the old Martin Luther mural in the lower Shankill.)
A bonfire in Rathcoole, Newtownabbey, will be lit on October 31st to commemorate the Protestant Reformation and (perhaps) provide a contrast to the traditions that have come to be associated with Halloween, and to the pagan holiday of Samhaın.
For the RHC mural in the background, see As Proud Men.
O’Neill Road, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey
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‘Step Up For Change’ was a two-year “youth development” programme that “graduated” fifteen young people from east Belfast in July, 2026 (Phoenix Education | International Fund for Ireland).
Greenore Street, Willowfield, east Belfast, replacing The Legends and My Anchor Holds.
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1,000 copies of J.P. Beadle’s painting “Battle Of The Somme: Attack Of The Ulster Division” were produced in 1917 in order to raise funds for wounded soldiers and POWs of the First World War. It has been further reproduced in boards and paintings since the re-imaging wave in the mid 2000s (see Visual History 10 | some early instances: 2007 in Londonderry | 2008 in Belfast), including this one in Cookstown. The original painting hangs in Belfast City Hall. (Irish Untold)
Edinburgh Drive, Cookstown
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The County Tyrone men from the Ulster Volunteers joined the 9th battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which were put into the 109th brigade of the 36th Division. The Cookstown Grenadiers uses a (modern) emblem of the 36th – combining Union Flag, Maid Of Erin harp (symbol of the Royal Irish Rifles), and a red (right) hand on a field of poppies – as part of its band emblem (on the right, and on the board of photos, below); the WWI-era emblem of the 36th is the red (left) hand in the middle of the board.
The photographs on the second panel are labelled as follows: “First Parade 12th 2018. A special occasion for the band on its first outing. Accompanying our good friends in LOL 196 to the 12th demonstration in Stewartstown. A bond still strong to the present day.”; “Tribute to a volunteer. The band paying tribute to Vol. Gary Holdsworth (office commanding) [see also Along With The Brave And The Bold] at the local memorial in Monrush.”; “Remembering the fallen. A member of the band lays a wreath at Cookstown cenotaph.”; “Band on parade at the 12th of July demonstration in Coagh 2025.”; “Band on parade in Londonderry for the relief of Derry celebrations 2025.”
The third board shows shamrock, poppy, thistle, rose, and orange lily around the Mid-Ulster UVF emblem and the words, “In memory of volunteers from the east Tyrone area who took the first to militant republicanism. Their deeds and sacrifices will not be forgotten. For God and Ulster.”
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The sills and inset windows are real, and the frames and shadows were painted by Woskerski (web) to heighten the 3-D effect around the animals sitting in the windows: two cats eye up a robin and some swifts.
On the side of Age Care, at the Thomas Street end of Feeney’s Lane, Dungannon
Also by Woskerski: faces in Belfast | asteroid in Crumlin | flamingo in Ballymena | writing in Belfast
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This celebration of the Northern Ireland soccer team is in Cookstown. On the left are the emblem of three world cups. Prior to its twice-in-a-row appearances at the World Cups in Spain (1982) and Mexico (1986), Northern Ireland’s only other appearance was in Sweden (1958), where it reached the quarter-finals.
The three players in the centre – Ray McCoy, Stuart Dallas, and Aaron Hughes – are all Cookstown locals. McCoy made one appearance for the NI team, Dallas 62, and Hughes 112.
Milburn Park, Cookstown
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“In loving memory of Vol. Gary Holdsworth, Officer Commanding, East Tyrone Mid-Ulster Brigade, Ulster Volunteer Force.” Holdsworth died in 2021 and the sources for this information – RBL Football Fb | Mid-Ulster ACT Fb – suggest that the title of “UVF OC” is an honorary or aspirational one. Holdsworth has appeared in the papers in connection with rioting and distrurbing the peace, but nothing involving weapons or drugs. A parade is held in his honour each year (Monrush Social Fb).
Similarly, the lines “Lay him away on the hillside, along with the brave and the bold. Inscribe his name on the roll of fame, in letters of purest gold.” come from a song (‘Lay Him Away On The Hillside’) about James Daly of the Connaught Rangers. He was executed by a British Army firing squad in November, 1920, for leading a mutiny to protest the actions of the Tans and RIC (WP).
The memorial is in the street where Holdsworth lived: Milburn Close, Cookstown
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